Vehicle subsystems such as, for example, transmissions, engines, and braking systems use individual control modules to control each of the subsystems and provide communication between such subsystems. Control modules are delivered to customers (e.g. vehicle manufacturers, service technicians, etc.) as single, self-contained, fully programmed units most often separate from the hardware to be controlled. Additionally, the control modules are often remotely located from the hardware to be controlled. These self-contained control modules permit the assembly of the vehicle to proceed independent of the final unique module configuration.
However, the industry appears to be moving toward integrating fully programmed control modules into the hardware to be controlled, thus creating a complete subsystem ready for direct assembly into a vehicle. A consequence of such vehicle subsystems is that a vendor may need to maintain or otherwise address potentially thousands of possible variants or calibrations of the subsystem due to the number of different configurations in which the subsystem may be used.